I came across this via a blog post at Tugster. This BBC report corroborates the YouTube comments that the explosion occurred on Jan. 9th.
[video=youtube_share;0Ow_DSLToOM]http://youtu.be/0Ow_DSLToOM[/video]
Wow!
Check out the stack on the tug at center left that was heading toward the fire - and nearly got whacked by a large piece of tank. It looks like they didn’t bother with any nicities like ramping up to full astern!
That’s one of the old Reinauer barges that got shipped over a few years ago.
Reminds me of the video of that Bouchard barge that exploding down in Port Mobil on Staten Island in 2001 or 2002.
China is taking over the world. Some people think Africa is the next big superpower after China and India but with incidents like this seemingly occurring daily over there, I don’t think we will see it in this millenium.
You think any of the wheelhouse windows were left in the tug?
It was not that long ago that an old Maritrans Barge blew up of there too. I guess those guys have a different rule book than we do.
What rule book?? Its Africa there are no rules.
[QUOTE=Bayrunner;98095]What rule book?? Its Africa there are no rules.[/QUOTE]
That was what I meant.
[QUOTE=rshrew;98083]You think any of the wheelhouse [B]personnel[/B] were left in the tug?[/QUOTE]
I fixed that for you. 
[QUOTE=BMCSRetired;98021]Reminds me of the video of that Bouchard barge that exploding down in Port Mobil on Staten Island in 2001 or 2002.
China is taking over the world. Some people think Africa is the next big superpower after China and India but with incidents like this seemingly occurring daily over there, I don’t think we will see it in this millenium.[/QUOTE]
A lot of African countries are pretty much still in the stone age.
It will take a few generations, plus a lot of education to get many of the countries anywhere near the standard of western countries.
The weird thing is “we” designed the equipment AND practices to continually evolve and become safer through years of experience, as in invented the whole system from the primitive days to now. They just got a bunch of complicated equipment with limited experience and are just doing what they want. Probably a guy down in a partially loaded cargo tank smoking a cigarette in sandals/shorts welding or grinding. Just an idea.
I remember the ad circulating around looking for NE tugboat guys to go over and run some of the old crap heading that way. Sure I’ll go move a 60k bbl barge with a 2,000 hp single screw boat…YOU CAN DO DAMAGE, NO INCIDENT REPORTS!
I’ve seen video of nigerians refining their own diesel in the bush…they do it by taste. But thats after they drill a hole in a crude pipeline. Guess they know when the refining is going properly by tasting the product. in sandals no less.
[QUOTE=z-drive;98137]The weird thing is “we” designed the equipment AND practices to continually evolve and become safer through years of experience, as in invented the whole system from the primitive days to now. They just got a bunch of complicated equipment with limited experience and are just doing what they want.[/QUOTE]
This is an interesting observation. I’ve been thinking along these same lines. Specifically I’ve been thinking about the transfer of knowledge required to safely and efficiently operate to new crew members. It may sound like jargon but a [U]good[/U] Safety Management System provides the framework to expedite this transfer. For example if an experienced crew member goes through a risk assessment with less experienced crew, information about job hazards is transferred from more experienced to less experience crewmembers. Written procedures are also a method to do the same thing but shifted in time.
K.C.
When I say shifted in time I mean that the person with the knowledge doesn’t have to be present at the time of the transfer. Like Grandma writing down a recipe for anyone to use any time.